SECRETARY-GENERAL CALLS ON INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY TO BREAK VICIOUS CIRCLE OF POVERTY, HUNGER AND MALNUTRITION ON WORLD FOOD DAY OBSERVANCE

25 October 1996

Press Release
FAO/3639

SECRETARY-GENERAL CALLS ON INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY TO BREAK VICIOUS CIRCLE OF POVERTY, HUNGER AND MALNUTRITION ON WORLD FOOD DAY OBSERVANCE

19961025 General Assembly President Says Hunger Is Linked to Power Politics; President of Economic and Social Council, FAO Director-General Also Speak

There was no greater challenge to the international community than to break the vicious circle of poverty, hunger and malnutrition, Secretary- General Boutros Boutros-Ghali said this morning as he addressed a meeting commemorating World Food Day.

The Secretary-General noted that the issues of poverty, hunger and malnutrition were most relevant in Africa, where, unless there was swift and decisive action, an estimated 300 million Africans might suffer from chronic malnutrition by the year 2010. The United Nations system was responding to the challenge by working to create political, economic and social conditions to win the battle against hunger. Citing the roles of a number of United Nations organizations, he said "a United Nations food package can literally make the difference between life and death, survival and starvation". Harnessing all the productive forces of society to those ends was a key objective of the Organization's work.

The President of the General Assembly Razali Ismail (Malaysia) said the dimensions of hunger were linked to poverty and land tenure issues, unsustainable production and consumption patterns and power politics, which transformed food into a commodity used as a political and economic weapon in the globalized market-place.

"Even if the root causes of hunger seem too complex to unravel, we should not be too quick to embrace the doctrine of trade liberalization and the promise of new science and technology as magic solutions", he said. The United Nations must always be on the side of equity and social justice, and protect the interests of the marginalized and the poor. It should protect the interests and traditional skills of farmers and those who "cannot sleep because of hunger".

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The Director-General of the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) said that the theme of today's observance -- Fighting hunger and malnutrition -- was thought-provoking, as "we are faced with the continuing logic-defying paradox of a planet that produces enough for everyone but at the same time has over 800 million people who have no guarantee of an adequate diet". He stressed that the world had to act now to resolve the problems of poverty and hunger.

Renewed commitment to resolve those problems were expected to be made in the upcoming World Food Summit to be held in Rome from 13 to 17 November, Mr. Diouf said. Over 100 heads of State and government had already confirmed their attendance. The Summit's draft plan of action would call for a series of practical measures to ensure conditions favourable to food security, including the contribution of international trade to that end.

The President of the Economic and Social Council, Jean-Marie Kacou Gervais (Côte d'Ivoire), said the international community must start investing in efforts to eradicate hunger all over the world, with investments coming from the public sector and being coordinated by international institutions. The world could not rely solely on private initiatives and the free market which were more concerned about short-term profits than long-term investments.

In his keynote address, Ivan L. Head, Professor of Law and Chair in South-North Studies, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, said next month's Summit should stress that hunger could be overcome by resolve and comprehensive policies, and not by lofty language in communiques.

The Summit should stress the importance of international cooperation, he added. Whether one spoke of food sufficiency, food science, food technology, or food marketing, no single State would be able successfully to stand aloof from the international community and flourish in the absence of cooperation and support from international structures, institutions and processes. Emphasizing the need for international cooperation, he argued that the very concept of sovereignty had been redefined and now flowed from taking part in the international community. The new reality was that a State enhanced its security by international engagement, diminishing it by withdrawing.

Meeting to Observe World Food Day

A special ceremony to mark World Food Day was held at Headquarters this morning under the theme "Fighting hunger and malnutrition". This year's observance was planned as part of the preparations for the World Food Summit to be held in Rome from 13 to 17 November.

The aim of World Food Day, proclaimed in 1979 by the Governing Conference of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), is to heighten public awareness of the world's food problems and strengthen solidarity in the struggle against hunger, malnutrition and poverty. In 1980, the General Assembly endorsed the observance of the Day by stating that "food is a requisite for human survival and well-being and a fundamental human necessity".

Statement by President of General Assembly

RAZALI ISMAIL (Malaysia), President of the General Assembly, said the Universal Declaration of Human Rights had pronounced freedom from hunger as one of the "inalienable and inviolable rights of all members of the human family". That was reiterated in the "Universal Declaration on the Eradication of Hunger and Malnutrition", adopted by the World Food Conference in 1974.

However, freedom from hunger was a right that many hundreds of millions of human beings were unable to exercise, he said. Although the world now produced enough food for all its inhabitants, a staggering 800 million people were chronically undernourished, unable to grow enough food to meet their nutritional needs, or without adequate access to food. "This fact alone, when coupled with our sophisticated knowledge base and boundless potential for social justice, should energize us to search for and commit to real and sustainable solutions that overcome such intolerable inequities."

When the international community set targets such as "food for all", it was essential that it did not fall casualty to slogans, but that it critically examine the root causes of hunger, he said. Today hunger and poverty were no longer restricted to developing countries, but sharply increasing in developed countries, despite the affluence and social and technological progress enjoyed by those countries. The problem of hunger and food insecurity was not simply about finding ways of increasing agricultural production, but needed to be addressed as a multidimensional issue requiring multiple solutions.

"The history of hunger is a history of unjust political and socio- economic systems which, frequently in combination with ecological degradation, have marginalized the poor and deprived them of the means to eat", he continued, adding that: "If our goal is to eliminate global hunger, we will stand a better chance of success only if we have the courage to identify and tackle the structures and forces that maintain such social injustice.

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The United Nations was not strange to such an approach, he continued. He expressed the hope that discussions at the World Food Summit, to be held in Rome next month, would benefit from the cumulative knowledge gained from previous United Nations conferences.

One such benefit, he said, would be an appreciation that there was no single or easy solution to complex political and socio-economic problems. The huge dimensions of hunger and food insecurity were closely linked to poverty and land tenure issues, to unsustainable production and consumption patterns, to property rights regimes that erode the diversity of genetic resources, to the impact of technology on small producers, the role of women in agrarian communities, and the multiple guises of power politics which transformed food into a commodity which was used as a political and economic weapon in the globalized market-place.

"Even if the root causes of hunger seem too complex to unravel, we should not be too quick to embrace the doctrine of trade liberalization and the promise of new science and technology as magic solutions", he said. Experience had shown that a concentration on intensive agriculture, once touted as the solution to hunger, had in the long term impoverished small farmers, degraded lands, reduced agricultural productivity, and was responsible for problems of food safety. Also, the international community should not commit the mistake of allowing the world's genetic resources to fall into the hands of private sector monopolies which could then hold huge populations to ransom.

The United Nations must always be on the side of equity and social justice, and protect the interests of the marginalized and the poor, he stated. To do so in the case of food security and in the pursuit of eliminating hunger would mean finding the political ways and economic means to protect the interests, rights and traditional skills of farmers and those that "cannot sleep because of hunger".

Statement by President of Economic and Social Council

JEAN-MARIE KACOU GERVAIS (Cote d'Ivoire), President of the Economic and Social Council, said that the United Nations and its agencies and programmes had been working hard to refine and improve their mechanisms for coordinating and helping development. One of those bodies included the Council. The FAO, for its part, was doing all it could to work better also. He praised that agency for the work it had been doing. Achieving the goal of prosperity for all would only come about if the contributions made to the relevant agencies were not reduced. Such contributions were crucial to the agencies. After the efforts to reduce the manufacture and sale of weapons of mass destruction, why were the modest resources being sought to fight hunger not being made available? he asked.

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He said that the inequitable distribution of wealth was one of the causes of the problems of hunger that were being observed all over the world. He cited the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) as having said that 358 of the world's richest billionaires controlled as many resources as 45 per cent of the world's population. The level of prosperity in 70 developing countries had dropped over the past 30 years. Many people of the world lived on less than $2 a day.

The international community must start investing today in efforts to eradicate hunger all over the world, he stressed. The investments needed to tackle hunger must come from the public sectors of the developed world and be coordinated by international institutions. That was because the world could not rely solely on private initiatives and the free market which were more concerned about short-term profits than long-term investments. If unemployment, the status of women and the problems of the world economy could not be tackled, the hope for peace might be disappointed.

The implementation of a regime for prevention and for rapid response to diseases that affected flora and fauna was encouraging for developing countries, he continued. Many people in the world looked forward to the World Food Summit, to be held in the headquarters of the FAO in Rome next month. He was happy to the see that the FAO had undertaken to mobilize various sectors of nations, including civil society, to take part in the Summit.

What was at stake was the future of all, he emphasized. Hunger, like armed conflict, disasters and unemployment, were problems that spread beyond national borders. Therefore, the international community must work at the international, national and other levels to tackle the problem. Even though the world's population had grown, the proportion of the poor had dropped to 25 per cent from 32 about 10 years ago. It was, therefore, odd that the problem of malnutrition was increasing, particularly in Africa. Today, one out of every five persons was living in hunger. Africa, for its part, had about 16 per cent of the world's poor. The problems of poverty could be solved if there was equal distribution of income. The problems would be solved if all sides worked together in the name of morality and the dignity of the human species, he concluded.

Statement by Secretary-General

Secretary-General BOUTROS BOUTROS-GHALI said today, one person in five was hungry. That was the global challenge that must be faced by the international community as World Food Day was observed. "Fighting hunger and malnutrition" was a subject that concerned everyone. Noting that almost 800 million people were chronically hungry, he said millions more suffered from what had been termed "hidden" or masked" hunger that reduced the capacity of men and women and children to live healthy and productive lives. In a world that could feed everyone, poverty bred hunger and malnutrition. The

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reality of hunger and the debilitating diseases of malnutrition affected productivity and growth, leading to the loss of hope in the future and to social disintegration, which in turn reinforced the hunger cycle. Poverty, hunger and malnutrition had long-term implications for human welfare, production, and for the world's survival.

There was no greater challenge to the international community, including the United Nations system and to every individual, than to break the vicious circle of poverty, hunger and malnutrition, he continued. Those issues were most relevant in Africa, where, unless there was swift and decisive action, an estimated 300 million Africans might suffer from chronic malnutrition by the year 2010. The United Nations system was responding to the challenge by working to create political, economic and social conditions that allowed it to win the battle against hunger. It worked to transform the hungry and the malnourished into effective participants in the growth and sustainable development of their societies.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) provided relief to millions of refugees and displaced persons who had had to leave their homes and had no access to food, because of conflict or natural disasters, he continued. The World Food Programme (WFP) provided 1.6 million tons of food in 1995 to cope with emergency needs. "A United Nations food package can literally make the difference between life and death, survival and starvation." However, responding to emergencies was only one part of the struggle. The Organization also worked to ensure that hunger and malnutrition were eradicated in the long term since poverty eradication could only be achieved if the root causes were attacked. Harnessing all the productive forces of society to those ends was a key objective of the Organization's work.

The Secretary-General said the FAO's work was central to the objective of ensuring and advancing food security. So were the contributions of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) with its emphasis on poverty alleviation, and of the World Food Programme (WFP) in its development work. Also to be cited were the UNDP's support for sustainable farming projects and the programmes of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) to reduce malnutrition in children. Fighting hunger and malnutrition was a main focus of the World Bank and other United Nations organizations. It was also a key dimension of the concept of sustainable development and a crucial component of the renewed concerted attack on poverty that was being waged by all economic and social sectors of the United Nations system.

Although hunger has been reduced significantly in some parts of the world, much more remained to be done, he continued. Access to food must be ensured by attacking poverty, as Governments had recently committed themselves to at the 1995 World Summit for Social Development. The sustainability of agriculture and food production must also be ensured. In 1992, at

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Rio de Janeiro, and in 1994 in Cairo, Governments had committed themselves to achieve the objectives of increasing food security in a sustainable way. This year in Istanbul, the international community had also focused its attention on food and nutrition in urban areas.

Other important factors in eradicating hunger included the economic and health status of women, he said, and stressed that women's empowerment was especially important in the production of food and the provision of basic needs. Also, the attack on hunger and malnutrition crises must be conducted where it was most widespread. Sustainable agriculture and food security for the future development of Africa should be a key dimension of the United Nations System-wide Special Initiative on Africa. In a globalizing world, technological advances must benefit the developing economies, where the need was greatest. Sustainable farming was very important, he noted.

Turning to the upcoming World Food Summit, he said the event would provide another crucial opportunity for decision makers to reinforce and refocus their efforts to end hunger and malnutrition. The Summit would provide the world community with the opportunity to marshal the global consensus and commitment required for the eradication of hunger and malnutrition and the achievement of food security for all. United Nations organizations were cooperating to ensure that the scourges of humanity would end. It had become clear that the struggle against hunger and malnutrition could not be won without the greatest cooperation of non-governmental organizations, the private sector and all components of civil society. Their efforts to end hunger and malnutrition were "a collective struggle, calling on all our efforts, our strength and our dedication".

Statement by FAO Director-General

JACQUES DIOUF, Director-General of FAO, said the theme of today's World Food Day -- "Fighting hunger and malnutrition" -- was a thought-provoking one, as "we are faced with the continuing logic-defying paradox of a planet that produces enough for everyone but at the same time has over 800 million people who have no guarantee of an adequate diet". Another paradox was that alongside food insecurity there were countries with food surpluses that had no idea what to do with them. Yet another was that a large number of people suffered nutritional deficiencies, while obesity in some countries was reducing life expectancy.

What was unacceptable was that the international community knew how to resolve the problem, he continued. He was convinced that unless something was done the problem would become worse when there would be millions and then billions of additional inhabitants, each with the right to an adequate, healthy and balanced diet. The international community must act now. "Hunger only gives the world wasted resources, wasted human potential, social and

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political unrest, misery and death. ... We have no choice but to react", he emphasized.

He said the international community faced two challenges, as follows: to produce enough food and to ensure that each individual had access to food, thus achieving food security. The world had learned a great deal from the "green revolution". That revolution's potential had not been fully realized. No astonishing scientific breakthrough was required to curb the disparities of small farmers' harvest and what was produced at experimental stations. However, support and resources to resolve the situation had been sliding. The share of development aid to agriculture had been halved in the last fifteen years. Many developing countries and the funding agencies had focused their efforts on other paths to development, rather than on agriculture.

He stressed that agriculture must be practised without endangering the environment. A heavy resumption of investment in agriculture must be made in areas such as water management, as well as in road links, storage facilities and other infrastructure that were essential for production and market supply and for the well-being of the rural population. All those factors were an integral part of the FAO Special Programme for Food Security, launched in 1994 for the benefit of the 82 low-income, food-deficient countries.

He went on to say that the other challenge was to secure access for all to an adequate, healthy and balanced diet, especially for the urban poor who lacked the means to buy the food they needed to survive. What they required was an employment policy and appropriate food distribution programmes. Efforts to achieve food security needed to focus primarily on women and the young, who were the most vulnerable population groups. The food supply situation at the world, regional, national and local levels should be monitored constantly, as was being done by the FAO's Global Information and Early Warning System. An equitable system of international trade in food and agriculture should be promoted while action was taken to protect the consumer. In that connection, the FAO was working with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Trade Organization.

Referring to the upcoming World Food Summit, he said it was a historic first. A plan of action, to be submitted to the Summit, called for a series of practical measures in seven specific areas, to ensure conditions favourable to food security, access to food for all, sustainable increases in food production, the contribution of international trade to food security, the availability of emergency aid, the necessary investment, and concerted efforts on the part of governments as well as international organizations to achieve the intended results.

At the conclusion of the Summit, each Member State would decide how best to achieve the objectives, he said. International organizations, non- governmental organizations and all sectors of civil society would be invited

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to join the international efforts in a vast campaign to ensure food for all. The FAO would ensure the implementation of the plan of action by the rest of the United Nations system. The Committee on World Food Security would be the intergovernmental body responsible for monitoring progress.

He announced that over 100 heads of States and government had already confirmed their attendance at the Summit. The interest of a number of groups, including the media, non-governmental organizations and the private sector augured well for the Summit's success. That upcoming event cast a ray of hope on today's observance of World Food Day. That hope must be communicated to all the farmers of the world and the men and women who battle each day against the constraints of nature, the markets and regulations to feed the world. That hope must also be communicated to all the hungry of the world.

Keynote Address

IVAN L. HEAD, Professor of Law, Chair in South-North Studies, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, and the meeting's keynote speaker, said that the World Food Summit would address problems related to lack of food security. He praised the fact that the FAO Director-General had designed the Summit to stress that hunger was a distressing human condition that would be overcome globally by human resolve, comprehensive policies and ethical conduct, and not by lofty language in communiques. A major concern was how to increase food production to keep up with growing populations, despite diminishing stocks of arable land. The Summit should stress the importance of international cooperation.

The collective acceptance by governments of international sanitary standards for trade in food products, preventive measures to ensure animal and plant protection, and rules on the transportation of agricultural chemicals showed the advantages of cooperation and the limitations of unilateral acts, he said. For instance, the accomplishment within the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations that broadened market access for agricultural produce was good news to consumers in the North and to producers in the South. That international decision would stimulate production while strengthening the purchasing power of the impoverished. Stressing the importance of the World Food Summit, he said that it would be an important occasion to show the advantages of having States cooperate in setting policies and designing rules for all.

He reviewed some past conferences and innovations to support his view that international cooperation was necessary for ensuring the well-being of future generations. For instance, none of the great agricultural achievements of the past 50 years could have been attained without extensive international cooperation. In that regard, the role of the United Nations and such agencies as the FAO, the IFAD and the WFP were critically important. "The lessons are clear: whether one speaks of food sufficiency, food science, food technology,

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or food marketing, no single State is able successfully to stand aloof from the international community, able to disregard the rules established by the international community, able to flourish in the absence of cooperation and support from international structures, institutions and processes."

That lesson, he went on, was not confined to the food sector only. Interdependence in terms of knowledge, investment capital, goods, commodities and human security was now so intense that the definition of sovereignty had changed considerably in recent years. Sovereignty, in the sense that a State could conduct its affairs without heeding external sources, was unrealistic in 1996. Cooperation, engagement and coherence were the present realities in all sectors of State activity. It was in that sense that the Food Summit would send the important message of the interdependence of all of humankind. In a world of dependencies and multiple actors, regimes and rules, the attributes of sovereignty assumed different forms today even though the goals were the same. "No longer is a State, no matter how small or apparently self- contained, able to prosper while withdrawing from the international community. No longer can a State, no matter how militarily or economically powerful, remain indifferent to the integrity of the international system."

It was axiomatic, he continued, that no State could gain from rules while simultaneously withdrawing from them. Sovereignty now flowed from taking part in the international community. Not even human security could be guaranteed by States acting on their own. The new reality was that a State enhanced its security by international engagement, diminishing it by withdrawing. "The well-respected international principle of reciprocity ensures that selective and inconsistent adherence to international undertakings, or disrespect for international norms, reduces the international stature of the State so misbehaving", he stated, adding that hunger was a moral issue and such a message should be transmitted to the participants of the World Food Summit next month in Rome.

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